The Jedi Way
by castaway567
Summary: As the clone war rages on the two jedi padawans find themselves thrust into the middle of the chaos. Without their masters they must rely on each other and their clone troopers to survive. What happens as they face the dangers of war
1. The trouble with meditation

**AN: Ok it's been a while since I've posted a story on here so bare with me. Please read and review and as always, I do not own star wars, if I did I wouldn't be writing on here I would have made many more movies by now.**

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Silence; peace, an utter state of both bliss and concentration. It is the state that every jedi seeks while in meditation. It was the exact opposite of what Arima felt. The young human female sat with her legs crossed and eyes closed. On the outside she looked calm and collected. Even her brown shoulder length hair barely moved in the wind. On the inside her mind was anything but calm.

"Meditation is so damn boring!"

"Shut up, I can't concentrate with you butting in."

Arima sighed audibly which got her master's attention. A gentle prod through the force from the older man forced the young female to relax for a few minutes. Her mind wouldn't have any of it though and she soon found her mind wandering back towards the other padawan.

"Can't we just go practice with our lightsabers?"

"For crying out loud Arima! I'm trying to meditate….butt out of my mind for a moment!"

Arima peeked her green eyes open a smidge to take a look at the young man sitting across from her. Devan's olive colored face was locked in deep concentration as he tried desperately to unlock the mysteries of the force. Arima smiled at his determination. "As if something like the force can be unraveled by sheer will alone." She whispered to herself quietly, trying to avoid bugging Devan anymore. Suddenly there was a pressure on her mind and before she could resist there was a second presence there.

"Arima, I said no talking…..if you talk again…or interrupt Devan again…I'll ban you from the sparring center for a week."

Arima peeked her eyes open again and was met by a stern and serious gaze from Master Tekkan Farce. Though her master was often strict in enforcing his rules, Arima had to be thankful that he was still alive. He had survived the famed battle of Geonosis. In fact it was that deadly battle that had thrown Arima and Devan together in training.

Devan's Master Eath Koth had not returned from the battle. His gunship had exploded somewhere over the surface of the barren planet. Devan rarely talked about his late master, but had once told Arima that he had felt the exact instant that Koth had died. Arima soon found herself thinking about what she would do if she lost someone close to her. Someone like her own master or even Devan. A wave of sorrow washed off of the young girl and collided into the minds of the other two meditating by her side.

Devan opened his eyes and stood to his feet. He walked over to Arima and put a hand on her shoulder and whispered a few comforting words. Though it was uncharacteristic for jedi to show emotion, the jedi master stayed silent. Deep down he knew that the times were changing. It was very likely that the two young teenagers would soon be forced onto the battlefield. Whatever comfort they could provide each other was important. As jedi masters were becoming stretched far and wide across the galaxy; greater and greater tasks were being forced upon the less experienced. Both Devan and Arima had yet to face the trials that would make them jedi knights. The trials had been put on hold since the beginning of the clone wars and though the two were ready, they would remain as padawans for the time being.

"Enough meditation….I…I have some good and bad news."

Both padawan's looked up. Arima tapped Devan's hand in thanks and then stood up. Both of them stood at attention before the master jedi.

"I have just been informed that you two will be accompanying the 'Guardian of Justice' when it leaves for its mission in three days.

Both padawan's exchanged shocked looks. Devan was the first to find his voice. "Um….was that the good news or bad news sir?"

Master Farce gave a weak smile. "The bad news is that you will be entering into this war at such a young age. The good news is that the jedi council has agreed to allow the two of you to work together as partners. It is a new tactic that the council is hoping will increase the ability of padawan's to impact the war."

Arima let out a heavy sigh. It was all her dreams and fears coming to fruition in one single moment. She had often laid awake at night yearning for a chance to enter a battle. Her heart ached to join the clone wars and do some good. Her mind, however, knew the likelihood of surviving a war. Every day, word of another jedi being killed alongside his clone troopers came in. The few padawan's that had seen battle so far had not fared well. Most of them had died as the fatigue of constant combat dulled their connection with the force. The young female reached out a squeezed Devan's hand and then took a step away from both men.

"I must go pack and say a few goodbyes. May the force be with you." Arima said with a polite bow to her master. Devan and Master Farce watched her leave, feeling the waves of emotion cascade off of her as she rounded a corner and disappeared from view.

"I will be on my way too then master." Devan said and started to leave.

"Wait a moment."

Devan turned around a confused look on his face. The jedi master took a step forward and wrapped an arm over the teenager's shoulder.

"The reason you two were chosen is because you balance each other out very well."

Devan nodded, it was something that had been proven again and again in both drills and combat simulations. Where Arima was aggressive and forceful, Devan was calm and calculating. The padawan looked up as he sensed Master Farce about to speak.

"Arima has always relied on her emotions too much….keep…keep an eye on her for me."

Devan once again nodded his head without saying a word. The first lesson learned by younglings was that fear, hate, and even love could be used to turn a jedi to the dark side of the force. A jedi who trained and fought with emotion was an easy target.

"Do not worry Master…Arima is strong, even if she is hard headed at times."

"Very good Devan…go pack, you will be leaving soon."

The Master and padawan said their goodbyes and parted ways.


	2. Meeting the crew

**AN: Ok, so here is chapter two. I hope that you are enjoying the story so far. Please drop a review, it helps me to get an idea of what my readers like and improves my writing. **

**Disclaimer: Don't own star wars it belongs to Mr. Lucas. I own the plot and that's about it.**

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Hundreds of clones, masked by their white armor moved in a sort of orchestrated chaos around a large battle cruiser. For a moment the two cloaked figures stood in awe of the mighty war machine letting their minds adjust to the enormity of the vessel. Both padawan's had said their goodbyes to their friends and packed what little they had. A jedi's lifestyle was a nomadic life, always on the move. The two padawan's carried only a change of clothes, their lightsabers and communicators; everything else was deemed unnecessary for a jedi.

Suddenly both communicators beeped to life and an eight inch glowing hologram of Master Farce glowed to life from the padawan's arms.

"I'm sorry, I must keep this brief. I wanted to see you off in person, but an emergency has arisen in one of the systems on the rim and I have been called to deal with it. I wish you the best and good luck….may the force be with you."

The hologram blipped out before Arima could say anything and it wasn't until Devan started playing it again that she realized that the transmission had been a recording. After they watched it one more time the two young jedi walked across a small gangplank and entered the ship.

Having rarely left the jedi temple, a large battle cruiser was a scary and new place to the two teenagers. The cold metal walls were in stark contrast to the lively flowing colors of the jedi temple. At the temple it was encouraged to tap into the beauty of life. Here it seemed the bulkheads were in place to remind you that you didn't have one anymore.

After a few minutes of staring at a map on the wall Arima let out a groan and grabbed a passing clone trooper's hand stopping him in his tracks.

"Um…excuse me trooper, where would I find Admiral Yelih?" She said struggling to remember the name of the commander they were supposed to report to.

"On the bridge maam." The trooper said and started to walk away.

"Wait! How do we get there." Devan asked quickly.

The clone trooper whirled around and walked the few steps back. He stared at the two padawan's with his cold black visor. "Look kids, I have ammo I need to load…this is really no place for children…now go back out and wait with the rest of the crew's family like everyone else."

Outside a small group of maybe forty individuals stood watching the last preparations being made. The small group served as a reminder that the majority of the thousands of men serving on the 'Guardian of Justice' were created for one purpose. The few non-clone members of the crew began saying their goodbyes to their loved ones. Back inside the ship Devan could sense Arima growing impatient. He reached out to calm her down, but she acted before any of his efforts could take effect.

Arima moved back the fold of her cloak to reveal the lightsaber hanging on her hip. "We are not children. We are the jedi escorts for this mission." She said, a tinge of anger in her voice at having been so easily dismissed because of her young age.

"I'm sorry maam…sir…please follow me." The clone said snapping off a hasty salute and inwardly cursing himself for belittling jedi.

The two padawan's returned the salute awkwardly and followed the trooper down a corridor and to a lift. All three climbed in and the trooper hit the button for the bridge. In such a large ship the ride would take several minutes. The three stood in silence until Devan suddenly spoke up.

"So what's your name trooper?"

The clone trooper looked at the male jedi, his confused face hidden behind the cold mask of his helmet. He assumed that he was going to be put on report, but to refuse to give out his serial number could result in a worse penalty.

"I am CT-2237." The clone said snapping another salute.

Arima rolled her eyes a little, "Not your number trooper…your name…I'm Arima, this is Devan." She said motioning with her hands like she would to a small child.

The trooper shifted nervously for a moment and then tilted his head toward the ground. "My apologies, general's but I only have my number….no name has been given to me."

Before Arima could say that it was absurd to not have a name, the doors to the turbo lift opened and the bridge came into view. Arima stepped out, but Devan remained behind for a second.

"Thanks for your help 2237." He said extending his arm forward to shake hands. The clone trooper hesitantly shook hands, saluted and watched the two jedi disappear from view as the lift doors closed.

"Ah the two experimental jedi. Welcome aboard the 'Guardian of Justice.' I'm Admiral Yelih."

Arima turned and a smile immediately lit her face. The man standing before them was very large, but held a warm friendly air about him. He appeared kind and welcoming; nothing like the cold hard commander that the two had expected to find.

"Come over here, we will be launching soon, and I need to debrief you on some of the details of our mission. I hope none of these clones gave you any difficulty. "

"No sir, the men under your command were quite helpful." Devan said. Arima held back from commenting on CT-2237's little blunder. She felt a slight pressure on her mind and immediately smiled. Devan had given her their version of a thumbs up through the force.

Oblivious to the communication through the force Admiral Yelih began to walk towards a door. "Please follow me…like I said there is much we need to discuss."

The two padawan's fell into step behind the Admiral and exited the bridge leaving many of the clones behind to ponder over their first encounter with a jedi.


	3. They're only clones

**AN: Hope you guys are enjoying this story. This chapter finally has a small bit of action. Don't worry, much more is to come. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own star wars just like to write about it….enjoy people.**

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"Sir the clankers are flanking us to the left!"

"Cipher, Scav, Bac, reinforce our left side now!" The clone commander yelled to his troopers. The three clones ran the hundred yards to the left and took up positions behind what little cover the few boulders provided and started firing on the advancing droids.

Commander Thod's mission had gone to hell exactly the moment that he and the rest of the clones had touched their armored boots on solid ground. The area that was supposed to be free of separatist droids was in fact full of them. The only thing that the twenty clones had going for them was that the rocky terrain was slowing down the mechanical soldiers.

"Thermal's over the rocks and then we are up that ridge on my mark….3…2…1…mark!" Twenty high explosives sailed from behind the natural barrier and momentarily created a wall of fire. Dirt and shrapnel pinged off of the clones armor as they followed their commander to higher ground.

Commander Thod got on the com and signaled for help.

"Negative commander….ambush….all…..area….hostile….hold on"

The clone commander cursed as the transmission was jammed and all contact along with their hope of rescue was cut off.

A wild shot from a droid below landed smack in the back of one of the last clone troopers to reach the top. He cried out in pain and began to fall backward. Two of his comrades grabbed him and hauled him to the top only to find that the laser had managed to fry the poor clone's heart into a useless steaming pile of flesh. Without hesitation the two clones laid their dead comrade at their feet and continued returning fire.

"What are your orders sir?" Bac yelled out from behind his newly found cover.

"Try harder or die!" The clones let out a small chuckle. In reality it was their only option, but the phrase that their commander was named after made a lot of sense. If they didn't fight harder….they would soon be dead. They were cut off and on their own. For now help was not coming.

Back on the 'Guardian of Justice,' Arima yawned which brought a smile from Admiral Yelih and a harsh stare from Devan.

"I'm sorry if the details are boring, but it is going to be a long campaign…hopefully shorter with you two here."

Devan nodded and stared at the multiple holographic maps that were pulled up before them.

"So let me see if I understand this Admiral, the republic sent one ship to scout the planet Fictor and ended up losing most of its clone troopers?"

Admiral Yelih let out a frustrated sigh. "Indeed, it appears that the separatists were already well emplaced on the planet. When our scouting parties were attacked, naturally the captain of the 'Defending Hope' sent more clones to counter the attacks. What he didn't count on was being ambushed in space. The 'Defending Hope' was forced to pull back stranding the clones on the ground. Our job is to show up and even the odds in the space battle, and rescue the stranded clones. After that we are supposed to take Fictor and eliminate the separatist prescence."

There was a small cough and both men turned to look at Arima who raised her hand to ask a question.

"How long has it been since the clones were cut off on the planet."

"Upon our arrival it will have been two days."

Both padawan's exchanged worried looks. Prolonged combat without resupply could only mean one thing…heavy casualties.

Admiral Yelih nodded his head. It didn't take a great connection to the force to read the worried looks of the young jedi. "Don't worry, most of those trapped on the ground are clones. They were created for such a purpose. They were basically born to die in combat."

The last comment worried the two jedi but they decided to wait until later to talk about it. "Even so we should try to save as many as possible." Arima stated a little worry apparent in her tone.

The Admiral raised a hand up to stop anymore comments. "Do not worry my young friends. Though they be clones they are still soldiers. We will do all we can to save them so that they can fight yet another day. Now unless you have any more questions I suggest that we should get some rest. We are due to drop out of hyperspace in seven hours and there's no telling when we will sleep again after that."

Both jedi padawan's stood and bowed in respect before leaving the war room and winding their way to their bunks. On a normal ship jedi general's were given their own room. However, with two padawan's instead of one jedi knight there were two beds squeezed into the tiny room normally reserved for one. Devan stood to the side to allow Arima in first.

"Don't worry most of them are clones?" Arima asked as the door slid shut and she collapsed on one of the beds.

Devan shook his head in slight disgust, "I know that the clones are often seen as glorified battle droids, but still…they're flesh and blood like us."

Arima let out a groan and flung her head down hard on the small pillow. "Well regardless of the Admiral's views we better get some rest. It sounds like we will get our first taste of combat soon."

Devan smiled as he sensed the eager anticipation washing off of Arima. "Yeah, well try not to rush into too much danger right off the bat."

He got a small grumble in return and then they both stopped talking. For a while both of them laid there in silence sensing each other's emotions through the force. While Devan could sense the eagerness and slight worry of the female jedi, Arima felt both a calm and a slight regret flowing off of her friend.

Finally Arima reached out through the force and gently touched Devan's mind. _"Goodnight." _

Devan smiled and rolled over to face the wall. "_Goodnight….now out of my head so I can sleep."_

Both padawan's were soon asleep as the 'Guardian of Justice' careened through space in hopes of rescuing some clones and ultimately saving a planet.

**AN: Please review! I'm busy for the next few days so if the next chapter doesn't appear in a day or so don't panic, it'll be up soon.**


	4. Springing the trap

**AN: Sorry for the longer delay this time. Once again enjoy and review. And as always I still haven't found a way to own star wars.**

A warning through the force can often feel like a light slap across the face. In retrospect it doesn't hurt that bad, but it definitely gets your attention. Arima gasped as she shot up wide awake. She looked over to see Devan already throwing his boots on and clipping his lightsaber to his belt.

"Come on something's wrong."

Arima nodded and the two headed for the bridge on a run. As they ran a ship wide alert rang out that the 'Guardian of Justice' would be exiting hyperspace in one minute. Both Jedi pushed themselves harder dodging clones as they went. Though their masks hid their expressions, the clones' confusion was easily sensed through the force by each padawan.

They arrived on the bridge as the countdown reached ten seconds. Admiral Yelih whirled around to stare at the two out of breath jedi.

"What in the……."

"Shields up…guns ready….a trap." Arima yelled cutting off the Admiral.

7….6….5…

"You heard the lady, full battle stations we're coming into a trap!"

4….3….2….

Sirens rang out across the ship and the clones that were in their bunks scurried to join their comrades who were already on duty.

1…exiting hyperspace…..

Just as the computer countdown said, the massive ship lurched to a halt and the blur of stars around them once again became pinpricks of light. The admiral stared out of the bridge. The ship was met with the silence and peace that can only be found in space.

Both Devan and Arima exchanged confused looks. They knew what they had felt; the force had said this was a trap. Admiral Yelih whirled around to face the two young jedi.

"I understand you two have a gift in the force, but we cannot go on high alert on every little whim. You are going to have to be able to tell the difference between true warnings and nerves."

The Admiral turned back to the viewport and Arima opened her mouth to protest, but Devan placed a hand over it to keep her quiet.

"Take us off high alert and try to find the……"

The Admiral never finished his sentence as an explosion rocked the ship. Luckily the shields had still been up and taken the majority of the blasts energy.

"Belay that order….where did that come from?"

"Sir…they're mines….the separatists appear to have laid a large minefield." A clone shouted up to the Admiral.

"Evasive maneuvers and a full barrage…we need to clear this out now before any more hit the ship."

A wave of laser fire leapt from the ship and the space around them became washed in fire as mine after mine exploded. A few still made it through the barrage and several more explosions rocked the ship. Reports of minor damage rang out all over the ship and Admiral Yelih turned back to the two jedi.

"It seems that I owe you an apology, I should……"

The Admiral stopped as Devan pointed a finger at the darkness of space. The Admiral peered not seeing anything until two separatist battle cruisers leapt out of hyperspace and turned to engage the lone republic ship.

"Where is the 'Defending Hope'?" Arima asked as the ships began to exchange volleys of laser fire.

The ship rocked with the continuous impacts of lasers on draining shields. More alarms rang out as secondary explosions began to rattle the ship.

"We are of no use here. Admiral, we request permission to head down to the hangar."

The Admiral nodded, "You might entertain the idea of getting off this ship…we aren't going to last against these odds." He said sadly.

As the two young jedi turned to leave they heard a loud whoop from one of the clones on the bridge. The whoop quickly turned into a cheer as more of the bridge saw the 'Defending Hope' as it exited hyperspace and unleashed a barrage of laser fire.

The ships communications soon leapt alive. "Admiral Yelih, boy am I glad to see you. All of my troopers are on the ground and have been on their own for quite a while."

Admiral Yelih took in a deep breath.

"Let's give them hell, tie them up and I'll send my forces down to aid yours on the ground."

The battle soon became a stalemate as all four ships traded fire. The large commander quickly turned to the jedi who had frozen themselves in place to watch the battle.

"You two….mount a rescue mission now. We need to get troops and extra ammo down to the ground battles now."

Arima and Devan jumped into the lift and Arima managed a sheepish salute as the doors closed.

"So how do we pick the clones to come with us?" Devan asked as the lift opened and the two stepped into the chaotic hangar.

Clones were running every which way fueling fighters and trying to make quick repairs to damaged components. Devan reached out to stop a trooper, but the large clone kept on running, his mind focused on a different task.

"This may be harder than……" he said turning, but not finding Arima next to him.

"HEY! I NEED VOLUNTEERS FOR A RESCUE WHO'S COMING WITH ME!"

Many of the clones turned to stare at the young female standing atop some crates waving a lightsaber in the air. Several ran forward and fell into formation in front of Arima. Devan let out an amused sigh and started towards his comrade.

"GOOD, LOAD UP!"

The clones stared at Arima for a moment and then one braver clone spoke up. "Maam, what equipment should we bring?" Arima stood there unsure and was about to stammer when Dev appeared at her side.

"Ammo and troopers only, the gunships will bring the wounded back here while we secure landing zones on the ground for further medical evac and resupply…now move!"

The clones saluted and orders were shouted out. Soon a hundred clones were piled alongside ammo in four different ships. Arima looked around and nodded. She began to climb into the same ship that Devan was in when an armored hand grabbed her from behind.

"With all due respect general, you should ride with me in that ship."

"And why is that…..CT-2237…hey it's you?"

The clone froze for a moment. Most non-clones never bothered to distinguish the armored troopers from each other. "Maam?"

"You you're the one with no name that lead us to the bridge and….never mind, why can't I ride on this ship?" Arima asked shooting a stare back at the clone.

"Maam, if this ship was to be shot down we would lose both generals…there is better odds of at least one of you making it to the ground battle if you split up."

A lump formed in Arima's throat and she could feel the panic rising up insider her. There was suddenly a soothing presence in her mind. _"He's right go with him, I'll see you on the ground."_

Arima started running after CT-2237. She glanced back at Devan. _"You better be there." _ She thought to him through the force. She quickly climbed in and the gunship shut its doors. The battle cruiser shook again as another barrage hit the shields.

"We are ready general. Awaiting your orders."

Arima swallowed hard. "Launch and lock on to the first trooper beacon you find. We will secure an area around them and start taking back the ground from there."

"Affirmative."

The gunships rocketed out of the hangar and plummeted towards the ground. Arima stumbled at the initial thrust and found herself being steadied by CT-2237.

"We'll find you a name yet." She said giving him a smile.

The ship shook as it slammed into the planet's atmosphere. She hoped they lived long enough to make it to the ground, let alone think of names.


	5. First taste of battle

**AN: Well once again I don't own Star wars. Enjoy; this chapter is a little longer and as always please review.**

"Sir…I'm picking up Republic chatter on the com. It sounds like gunships."

Commander Thod looked over at Scav and then tuned his com to the frequency that appeared on his helmet display. Sure enough the chatter among the clone pilots could be heard through the static.

"Alright men, help is on its way, set off the beacon and prepare for a fight."

What had once been a large group of twenty clone troopers was now a decimated force of six. The survivors had managed to break through the droid lines and hide themselves in some caves. Once the beacon started transmitting it would bring both clones and droids down on top of them.

"Beacon is up sir." The two rookies said together.

"Good, now lock and load. We're sure to have company of the metal kind soon."

Cipher, Scav, Bac, Commander Thod and the two rookies took up positions around the cave.

"General, we are receiving a rescue beacon 10 clicks to the north."

Arima smiled for the first time since they had begun descending. "Good head for the beacon, we shouldn't keep those men waiting."

"Yes sir." The pilot acknowledged and all four gunships began a slow turn. The signal grew louder and Arima leaned out the side to get a better look at the terrain whipping by below her.

An explosion suddenly rocked the ship and if it hadn't been for CT-2237 and another clone grabbing her, Arima would have surely plunged to her death. More explosions rocked the air as droid heavy guns tried to shoot the gunships from the sky.

"Pilot get us on the ground, we'll make it the rest of the way on foot."

"Sir." The pilot yelled as he made a hard bank and descended at what felt like a suicidal rate. As soon as the ship started to slow down Arima jumped for it landing in a crouch lightsaber ignited in her hand. Twenty clones soon landed beside her carrying the extra ammo, blasters at the ready.

Sporadic blaster fire from a few droids began to pepper the ground around Arima and the clones. The female jedi jumped out in front and began deflecting the lasers to give her troops enough time to find cover and start returning fire. Once the clones were well positioned and several droids had been taken out, Arima dove behind a large rock and took in a much needed breath.

Two more of the gunships landed a little ways away and off loaded their troops. The final ship started its descent and suddenly exploded in a large fireball as an enemy gun finally found its target. The explosion rained down fiery debris across the clones on the ground.

"Where's Dev…General Devan?" Arima barked at one of the clones.

A reassuring hand rested upon Arima's shoulder. "Ma'am, your friend was on the other ship…he is most likely pushing his troops forward as should we."

Arima nodded her head, suddenly feeling a bit guilty at not showing concern for the men that were lost. She looked back at CT-2237. "I'm going to find you a name yet…but first lets rescue some clones."

The trooper nodded his approval.

"Pilot return to the 'Guardian of Justice' and bring more troops and supplies. Wait for us to engage the ground troops that should provide enough of a distraction to provide a safe window from their fire."

Arima turned to the twenty clones around her. "Alright men, let's rescue our comrades and start taking back this rock."

The jedi padawan jumped out from behind the rock and started deflecting incoming lasers back at the battle droids standing on top of the rocky hill they had to climb. Arima's troopers soon laid down an overwhelming amount of suppressing fire and within minutes the hill was taken. The clone troopers and their jedi general pushed forward slowly, leaving the smoking metal remains of busted droids in their wake.

"Sir, we need to be on the move."

Devan had not landed gracefully as he jumped out of the ship. In retrospect he had jumped a tad early and was lucky to have only rolled through the dirt instead of breaking any bones. He took the offered hand and let the clone pull him to his feet.

"Ok, the beacon is still strong let's head for……" The young jedi was cut off by an explosion as the fourth gunship exploded overhead. Debris rained down and it was all that Devan could do to use the force to protect his clone troopers from the fiery barrage.

"Let's move we have men to rescue." Devan said as he charged up the hill with the sixty clones from the two ships that had landed together.

"Trooper try to contact general Arima and her troopers and find out where they are."

Devan let out a sigh of relief when the trooper immediately went to work instead of informing him that his dear friend had been on the exploded ship.

"Sir, the clankers are jamming us, I can't get through to the others."

Devan shook his head in disgust. "Very well, we will continue as if we do not expect them to reinforce us."

The jedi grabbed the shoulder of the trooper he had asked to make the com transmission. "Rank and name soldier."

"Sergeant; CT-2267." The trooper snapped.

"Do you have a name?" Devan asked.

The trooper hesitated for a moment. Names were often only something you told a trusted clone brother, almost rarely shared with a non-clone, especially a commanding officer.

"Sir, I….well it's a clone thing that we don't often share them sir, but since……"

Devan raised his hand to cut the trooper off. "That's fine Sarge will do for now."

The trooper nodded and started forward again. "Sarge wait." The trooper froze certain that he was somehow in trouble for not revealing the one thing that truly belonged to him. He turned to face the jedi.

"Are you the highest ranking trooper here?"

The Sergeant nodded that he was. Devan gave him a smile.

"I'm new to this kind of combat, lead the way so I don't get us killed with rookie mistakes."

"But sir you're a jedi." The Sergeant protested. "not to mention a general."

"And I'm inexperienced, not stupid or too proud to admit my weaknesses now get us to the others. That's an order.

Sarge saluted and started barking out orders, spreading out the troopers and setting up lines of fire. No sooner had the Sergeant done so then a laser shot out from behind a rock outcropping and struck one of the clones in the head killing him instantly.

"Clankers!" A clone yelled out and suddenly Devan found himself enveloped in a battle. He began deflecting lasers away from himself and the clones around him.

"Suppressing fire! Push them back!" The Sergeant yelled as more and more battle droids began to come out of caves. Devan and his troopers soon found themselves scrambling for cover behind whatever they could find. They were quickly being pinned down by a wall of laser fire.

Devan soon realized that they were about to be overrun if nothing was done quickly.

"Sarge! Collapse the caves!"

The Sergeant barked the order and the troopers began firing on the cave entrances. The rock began to melt under the laser fire and soon the cave roofs began to collapse crushing several droids and trapping many more inside.

"Well done general." Sarge said with a smile. Dev flashed the Sergeant a smile and then suddenly spun around and deflected a laser bolt away from his head.

"We aren't out of it yet, let's press forward and reach our comrades before too many droids can arrive."

The clones put up a valiant fight and pressed forward quickly. Several clones met their end as the group pressed forward, but the small skirmish between droid and man was soon won by the clones. Devan re-checked the beacon location. They were only a click or so away now. It wouldn't be long before they reached the trapped clones.

As the group pressed forward he looked up to the sky. _"You promised to see me on the ground….don't break that promise Arima."_ He was too far away for his thoughts to reach her, but he still sent them out the same. Devan quickly pushed his concerns for Arima to the back of his mind and continued fighting alongside his clone troopers.


	6. Pushing forward

**AN: Don't own star wars. Ok now that that is out of the way I do feel the need to warn the readers that the next chapter or two may not come for a week or so. I'm having eye surgery and won't be able to look at a computer screen for five to seven days. Don't worry the story will continue. Now enjoy!**

The faint whine of the gunships' engines could be heard as the three remaining ships lifted off. The whining grew louder as the pilots pushed the ships to full speed in an attempt to escape unharmed. Sporadic fire followed the ships, but despite a few blackened scars along the sides, the ships made it out of the battle area unharmed and headed to space in hopes of bringing back the much needed reinforcements.

"General we are almost there, should I try to reach them on the com?"

Arima broke her gaze from the disappearing ships. For a second she had felt panic as they left. She was now truly trapped on this planet. The young jedi took in a deep breath. "See if you can get through to those trapped troopers…we don't want to get shot by accident."

CT-2237 quickly sent out a message on all frequencies.

"Sir, we're getting a message that the reinforcements are close they want us to know they are coming from the west."

Commander Thod looked at the rookie and then lobbed one of the last remaining thermal detonators in between two super battle droids. The explosion destroyed one and sent the other tumbling down the rocky hill.

"Rookie, tell them they are clear and to make it quick….we're almost out of ammo."

"This is CT-4783….we copy that 2237, you are…………."

The rest of the message never left the rookie clones lips as a laser blast caught him square in the face plate. A clean neat hole burned through the front and the clone fell forward. Blood started to trickle out of the helmet.

Scav shook his head and leaned over to hit the com button on the dead troopers arm. "clear from the west…repeat clear from west….and hurry." He said, sorrow and anger apparent in his voice.

Scav ducked just as a shot zipped past where his head had been. Bac spotted the sniper droid and let loose with a full power pack of ammo. The droid and much of the rock around him disappeared under the barrage.

"Clear…..west……..west….."

Devan looked down at his com. He smiled, at least Arima was making progress. Devan along with Sarge and his clones had been making quick progress until some of the droids managed to free themselves from the collapsed caves. What had started out as a quick way to detain the droids had inadvertently put the fighting at the front and rear of the group.

"Status Sarge!"

The Sergeant didn't even look up as he swapped out a full ammo pack for the empty one he flung to the ground. "We aren't making any headway sir. We have effectively brought the battle to a stalemate right here."

In most situations a stalemate eventually meant victory for the clones. They were able to adapt to the situations just a little bit faster then the processors inside the droids. However, a stalemate meant that the men that had been trapped for two days on this planet might die.

"That is unacceptable. Sarge you have full command while I'm gone."

This made Sarge look up. "Sir where are you…..?"

He watched as the young jedi flung his cloak to the ground and sprinted up the hill, deflecting lasers as he went.

Devan took in a deep breath as he ran and forced himself to relax. He suddenly felt perfectly in touch with the force. This was better then meditation; it was like the force was controlling him. Devan was reacting before he could even register to do so.

The jedi padawan leapt over a large boulder and found himself among ten very confused battle droids. The young human made quick work of the droids with his light saber. A laser whizzed by his head and Devan barely managed to get his light saber in the way of the second blast.

Two more lasers shot in towards him and the jedi deflected them both back into a single droid who fell to the ground with a mechanical groan. A pleased smile planted itself on the jedi's face. The smile soon disappeared as two super battle droids stepped out from behind a boulder. Instead of lasers they unleashed two small rockets. Devan jumped but the blast threw him back over the boulder he had leapt in the first place.

As he flew through the air a barrage of lasers headed his way. Devan tried his best to block them, but one snuck through and caught him in the shoulder. The blow screwed up his landing, and for the second time that day Devan found himself skidding through the dirt.

"We're clear to approach."

Arima didn't even bother to respond. She ignited her lightsaber and charged up the hill. The clones charged behind their general firing away at whatever droid stuck his head out. The charge was brief. Arima sliced through a super battle droid and pushed the remains out of her way with the force. She suddenly found herself a few yards away from some very battle weary clones.

"Good….we found you." She said with a smile and then turned to deflect a few more incoming lasers. Arima's clones arrived and quickly set up a perimeter. The few snipers they had quickly went to work picking off the droid sharpshooters. After several minutes locked in an intense firefight, the clones managed to push the droids back down the opposite side of the hill and secure a safe area around Commander Thod and his troops.

"2237, set up some sentries and then have the rest of the men treat any wounds we have."

The padawan's right hand clone nodded. Though she couldn't see it, she felt that he had to be smiling underneath his helmet. She turned and extinguished the pulsating blade in her hand. She took in several deep breaths. She was exhausted and she hadn't even been in battle a full hour yet.

"General?"

Arima turned around to find a very tired looking trooper. She quickly returned the salute. "At ease….what do your men need trooper?"

"We are short on ammo, we still have some food rations but if you could spare a few we'd appreciate it."

Arima nodded her head and gave the trooper a warm smile. "I'll make sure that your men get what they need. Now find some cover and you and your men get at least two hours of sleep."

She could sense his hesitation through the force and she cut him off before he could speak. "That is an order trooper…get some rest….there will be plenty of fighting when you wake up."

"Sir." With that Thod saluted and left to tend to his weary men. They soon found a pair of boulders in the middle of the protective circle that was being set up. The five survivors soon fell asleep, the fatigue from days of combat finally overpowering them.

"With all due respect….what were you thinking general?"

Devan opened his eyes to find himself staring at a pair of dirty armored boots. He looked up to find the Sergeant standing over him.

"I thought I'd break us through." Devan said taking the offered hand and pulling himself to his feet. He winced from the pain in his shoulder. He tried to raise his right arm but found the task to painful at the moment.

"We managed to push farther ahead and the explosives I had rigged behind us has slowed the droids behind us….oh and general….you might need this."

Devan smiled and plucked the lightsaber out of Sarge's hand.

"Status?" Devan asked as another wash of pain shot through his injured shoulder.

"5 troopers dead….8 wounded, and one general wounded." The clone sergeant said.

Devan looked up at the armored trooper and sighed. "How far are we from the beacon?"

"Not far, but it will take us several hours to break through at this rate….saying that the droids aren't reinforced."

Devan nodded, "Well Sarge,we better get a move on it then." The jedi ignited his lightsaber and held it in his good left hand. He pushed the pain from his mind and focused on deflecting the incoming fire away from himself and his troopers. They had gained a fair amount of ground thanks to Devan's less then graceful heroics. The group of fifty plus clones and one wounded general continued to crawl forward, slowly, ever so slowly pushing the droids back.

"General Devan Tyer to General Arima Bedears."

There was a snap and crackle of static before an answer came back.

"Devan….where are you?"

Devan smiled, "We are east of the beacon….heading towards it and……" He paused as a sharp pain shot through his arm. "and we aren't far."

On the other end Arima paused, "Well hurry up we don't have all day." She said trying in vain to hide her concern in sarcasm.

"Copy that general." Devan said, "We will be with you in an hour or so."

The com's clicked off and both padawans sighed in relief. They had both survived the first hour of combat. An explosion sent dirt flying across Devan and a trooper nearby heaved a thermal detonator up and over the top of an extremely large boulder. The explosion sent droid parts scattering everywhere. A few clones darted forward and took the next ten yards of ground. More fire was exchanged and then another group of clones leapfrogged forward. It was a slow process, but it was working and that was all that Devan could ask for right then.


	7. Family

**AN: Thank you to all of my readers for putting up with the long delay between chapters. The eye surgery went well and I should be back to updating on a regular basis. Now enjoy and as always I don't own star wars just write about it.**

Admiral Yelih involuntarily flinched as a turbo laser impacted the 'Guardian of Justice's' shields directly in front of the bridge.

"Sir forward shields are at 30 percent."

The Admiral let out a string of curses. The space battle was too evenly matched. At this rate all four ships were going to slowly destroy each other in a hail of laser fire. It was time for some drastic measures.

"Lieutenant get me in touch with the 'Defending Hope'." There was a quick affirmative and the clone trooper quickly established a link with the other republic battle cruiser. The 'Defending Hope's' Commander appeared as a hologram looking as frustrated as Yelih.

"We are all going to be space debris Admiral if we don't think of something."

Yelih flashed a predatory smile. "I know commander; let's make this battle two on one. Focus all of your fire on the Separatist ship on the left.

The hologram faded out for a moment as both republic ships were rocked by incoming fire. "Why not…you know the other ship will be able to get off a missile salvo then correct."

"No risk….no reward commander." Yelih responded and cut off the transmission. He turned to the bridge crew.

"Strap in men, this could get rough. Target all guns on the portside enemy ship and fire at will."

At the same time the commander of the 'Defending Hope' issued the same order and the republic fire slammed into the single vessel. Though the shields were powerful they were no match for the combined firepower of two battle cruisers.

There was a distinct blue flicker as the shields failed and then the lasers began to rain down against the metallic hull. Flames poured out of the enemy ship and then suddenly a large explosion split the ship down the middle forcing the two halves to drift apart. The enemy ship was out of the fight.

"ADMIRAL WE'VE GOT INCOMING!"

"Target the missiles, shoot them down."

Even as he gave the order, Admiral Yelih realized that there was no way to shoot down all of the incoming firepower. The Admiral braced himself as the first missile impacted the shields immediately followed by hundreds more. The ship was rattled with explosions and hundreds of sirens were set off. Admiral Yelih was flung into a bulkhead and everything around him began to grow dim.

"_Hope….we get the other one…."_ The Admiral thought as he slipped into the comforting black void of unconsciousness.

Commander Thod and his remaining men were lucky. The droid army had been staging a final assault on their position when the jedi generals and their reinforcements arrived. The trapped clones' good luck, however, was bad luck for Devan and his troops. While Arima had quickly fought through small pockets of droids, Devan and his force had engaged the main forces of the droid attack.

A laser bolt zoomed in at the Sarge's head and his eyes went wide as he realized too late to dodge. He only had time to cringe shutting his eyes. The next moment the realization hit the clone that he wasn't dead and he quickly re-opened his eyes to find the general's light saber in front of him a mere inch from his black visor.

The energy blade suddenly pulled away and the entire battlefield came back into view. The Sarge blinked a few times to bring everything back into focus. He spotted a battle droid step out from behind a rock and unleashed a blast of laser fire. The droid blew apart in spectacular fashion.

"We've got to be getting close." Devan yelled more as a question then a statement of fact.

A clone nearby lobbed a thermal up over a small ridge and the metallic cries of the droids who were hiding there could be heard just before the explosion.

"Just up that ridge and a little farther and we should be there sir." The clone who had tossed the explosive said.

"Very good, keep it…." Devan was interrupted by the frantic cry of 'Grenade.' Without thinking Devan dropped his lightsaber and used his good hand to force push the explosive away from the two clones. The explosion threw both soldiers to the ground, but after a few seconds they picked themselves up and continued fighting.

Devan breathed a sigh of relief and then turned to retrieve his lightsaber. He was too slow though as a random laser bolt struck him in the leg. He let out some curses as his leg buckled. He grabbed his lightsaber and tried to stand but his right leg gave way and he fell back to his knee.

Two clone troopers came running to his side. One knelt in front of him using his body as a shield while he returned fire. The other who had a medic symbol on is armor began to apply a bandage to the injured leg. The bacta spray stung like hell, but Devan just gritted his teeth and kept from emitting any sounds of agony.

"Sir let me help you up." The medic said extending his hand. Devan took it, but suddenly felt a warning through the force. Instead of yanking himself up he jerked the medic off of his feet and slammed him to the ground. A string of laser bolts blew through were the clone had just been.

A few explosions could be heard in the distance alongside a few more of the metallic screams of droids realizing they are about to become scrap. Then, the entire area fell into a complete silence. Devan looked around as did the troopers at his side.

"Sarge status." The jedi padawan barked into his comlink.

"Threat neutralized general…remaining droid forces have retreated for now."

"Very good Sergeant." Devan said managing a smile even amidst the pain. "Send our troops to link up with General Bedear's group….I'll…I'll be along shortly."

"Affirmative."

The Sergeant issued the orders and the remaining clone troopers began their march forward. As Devan was helped to his feet he felt a third set of hands help steady him. He looked up to find that they belonged to Sarge. The clone trooper ordered the medic to attend to the other wounded and took his place underneath one of Devan's arms.

"Are you good to move general? We could get you a stretcher."

"I'm not letting you carry me in….I'll just lean on both of you and save what little bit of dignity I have left." Devan said with a small laugh.

Both troopers let out a chuckle and nodded. They understood not wanting to be carried off of the battlefield. The three men turned and began the slow climb up the hill.

Arima paced back and forth as more and more clone troopers arrived at their position. Though she was happy to see that so many of Devan's forces had survived she was anxious to see her friend in person.

"General…it appears that forty of the sixty troopers under General Tyer's command are battle ready. Six more are wounded and the remaining fourteen are dead."

Arima forced herself to focus back in on CT-2237's report. "Um…thank you…have the wounded rest alongside the troopers we rescued."

"It's already been done ma'am." The clone said as he watched with amusement as his jedi general continued to pace impatiently.

"Ma'am, the troopers who have come in said that General Tyer was wounded but that his injuries are not life threatening. He should be here shortly."

Arima whirled around to stare at the clone. "I know." She snapped. She then lowered her head in shame. "I'm…I'm sorry….I…Devan is just the closest thing I have to family."

The helmet continued to hide 2237's face, but as always Arima could sense through the force what the clone was feeling. She was surprised that it wasn't anger or amusement but empathy. She smiled as the larger trooper placed a hand on her shoulder.

"We are all family now ma'am."

"Indeed…the only family we will ever have." Arima said as she realized for the first time that like the jedi, the clones had never grown up with parents; only instructors.

"But good enough for me…." CT-2237 said as he removed his hand from Arima's shoulder to point out the jedi being helped along by two clone troopers.

A sense of relief washed across Arima and she turned to the clone next to her. "So you really don't have a name?"

"It's Cry Ma'am."

Arima looked up in shock, a little hurt that he had been lying to her all along.

"We…clones…only use are names around other brothers….our family."

In an instant all of Arima's hurt and anger disappeared and she managed to fight back the tears as she realized she had greatly won the respect of the clone before her.

"Cry it's a pleasure to meet you…I'm Arima." The jedi said sticking out her hand. Cry quickly shook hands and then saluted. Arima let out a laugh and returned the salute. "C'mon, let's go get the wounded general."

Arima and her clone escort soon drew up beside Devan and his helpers.

"Oh…geez…did you stop any with your lightsaber?" Arima exclaimed as she saw the bandages on Devan's right arm and leg.

"Good to see you too." Devan remarked through gritted teeth.

"Take him to the middle of the camp and I'll see if I can't heal him a little."

The clones nodded but she could sense some confusion. "Some of the jedi arts allow for us to speed up the healing process by use of the force….though I'm not that good at it." She explained. The clones nodded, but she could still sense some doubt which was to be expected.

Devan let out a groan as he was lowered to the ground which caused a lot of pain in his injured leg. "Focus on the leg Arima….I can fight with just one arm, but not one leg."

The clones left to tend to the mundane tasks of setting up a strong hold. Sarge and Cry both gave their respective general's a nod and left, leaving the two jedi relatively alone.

Arima began to summon the force to heal Devan's leg, but tears began to flow down her cheeks causing her connection to the force to waver. She looked up as a hand brushed her cheek.

"Hey…I'll be ok…we both will."

"I…I thought you were dead…." Arima muttered but was cut off as Devan put a finger on her lips.

"I thought you were too….but we're not….and neither are most of our troopers." Devan said pulling his hand back and forcing a smile onto his face.

"_Now can you focus to help my leg?" _He asked her through the force. Arima frowned at her friend, but soon smiled at the relief of once again feeling Devan's presence brush up against her mind. She wiped away the tears, glad that she could smile again.

"_Yeah just don't get shot up again….I'm not very good at this."_

"_I'll remember that."_

Both jedi laughed which brought some confused glances from the nearby clones who hadn't heard a word said between the two. A few curious troopers gathered around to watch as Arima attempted to use the force to heal Devan's leg. She was glad that they hadn't seen her cry. She broke off her concentration and nodded to the few troopers around her. Then with a small sigh she let the force focus her once again and she continued to mend the injured leg.


	8. Curious Clone

**AN: Well sorry for the delay everyone, job hunting and a few personal issues got me behind. Enjoy the new chapter.**

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The darkness of night began to approach and a beautiful sunset could be seen as the sun began to disappear behind one of the opposite hills.

"Sure never had that on Kamino."

Commander Thod merely nodded in agreement to Scav's observation. The truth was that the clones had seen nothing but storms while on Kamino. The rainy planet, though one of the most depressing places in the galaxy was still home for every clone. Still there was something to be said about the beauty of the sunset before them.

"C'mon Scav….we can't stare at the sky forever." Thod donned his helmet and walked back towards the center of the camp. He knew that if the droids were going to attack they would do it at night fall. The cooler air would make their thermal sensors more effective. Though the clone trooper armor did a fair job of hiding the heat signature, several dozen troopers and a few jedi were bound to put off enough heat to register.

As the commander returned to camp he noticed the remaining troopers that had survived the last few days of hell with him gathered around the two jedi. He walked over to see what was going on.

"Commander…Scav you won't believe this….she's actually healing him." Cipher exclaimed in almost child like wonder.

"Eh…Jedi magic….just plain unnatural." Bac said in his usual pessimistic manner.

"We're clones….we're unnatural." Cipher reminded his comrade. Bac rolled his eyes.

Commander Thod ignored his troopers talking and focused on watching as the female jedi who had rescued them seemed to pray over her fellow jedi's injured leg. There wasn't much change at first, but the spot she was placing her hands over soon began to change from dark purple to a lighter shade of blue. After several more minutes the wounded area had turned to a reddish tender looking piece of flesh.

Scav let out a low whistle of amazement. He noticed several other marks of reddish flesh and realized that the wound had been pretty extensive. He nudged Cipher in the side with his elbow.

"How long has she been at this?"

Cipher threw his helmet on for a moment and then took it off. "According to the timer I set in my helmet she's being going for almost an hour straight."

Arima broke her gaze and let her mind come out of the focus state of her healing meditation. She looked down at her progress and sighed. She closed her eyes and started to try again when a hand reached out and shook her shoulder gently. She opened her eyes to find Devan smiling at her.

"You need to rest, I'll be fine if I bandage the rest up….can't have you sleeping through the rest of the campaign."

"I'm fine…I…I….." Arima was cut off by a large yawn.

Commander Thod used the break in conversation to step forward. He quickly saluted both generals.

"Generals we need to ready ourselves for an attack, the last two days the clankers have seemed to grow more active at night."

Devan nodded and Arima started to stand but Devan put his hand on her shoulder and forced her back to the ground.

"Show me where you think we should double our defenses." Devan said motioning for Thod to lead the way. Devan shot a look back at Arima.

"_Get some rest, that's an order."_

"_We're the same rank you can't pull rank on me." _

Devan shook his head at the message he received through the force. Arima suddenly yawned again and it seemed her fatigue was finally catching up with her.

"Fine, I'll stay." Arima said not bothering to use the energy it required to send a message through the force.

Cipher looked between Devan and Arima in surprise as he realized that they had been talking without saying a word. Seeing his surprise and earlier interest in the jedi Commander Thod called him over.

"Sir?" Cipher said standing at attention.

"You and Bac keep watch over the general…Scav come help me show the….uh…. other general what we were talking about."

Devan laughed and stuck his hand out to Commander Thod. "General Tyer, Devan's my first name….nice to meet you." Commander Thod shook the hand. "A pleasure…now this way sir."

Arima watched as Devan and the two clones disappeared into the approaching dark. Her gaze was suddenly blocked by clone armor and the very excited looking clone inside the armor.

"Um….general…umm…"

"Just spit it out trooper." Arima said a little irritated, but curious at what the clone wanted to ask.

"I…you two can talk without saying anything right? Just think it and the other hears it." Cipher said almost bouncing in excitement.

Arima couldn't help but smile, "Sometimes we can…if we are pretty close to each other." Arima paused for a moment then extended a weary hand out to the trooper. "I'm Arima….well General Bedears when we have to be formal." Cipher hesitated and then shook her hand. He grasped in awkwardly as if he was afraid that the jedi's hand was either going to strike him, or that it was too valuable to be touched.

"I'm….2411…." Cipher said. He looked over at where Bac was busy playing lookout and ignoring him and Arima. Cipher leaned in close. "The name's Cipher….we usually don't tell non-clones…but you did rescue us and…well you're a jedi."

Arima smiled and leaned back against the slope of the hill. "It's a pleasure to meet you Cipher."

"So how long have you been a jedi and can you really move stuff with your mind…or read our thoughts or…..?

Cipher stopped his excited questioning as his blaster floated off of the ground and gently came to rest in his hands.

"I'm not a full fledged jedi yet….still a padawan…jedi in training of sorts…and as for reading your thoughts….you'll have to find out later." Arima said with a little smirk. "Now help Bac over there keep watch…I need to get some rest…we can talk some more when I wake up."

Cipher nodded and put his helmet back on. "Yes Ma'am." He walked over to Bac who let out a small groan.

"What?" Cipher asked resisting the urge to glare at his comrade through his helmet.

"Jedi give me the creeps."

"Well she's not a jedi…she's a padawan…sort of in training." Cipher said trying to defend Arima.

"Great an untrained jedi even better." Bac groaned. "This campaign didn't even warrant a real jedi."

Cipher rolled his eyes behind his helmet. "You don't like jedi, maybe the untrained ones aren't as bad…you know no bad habits and all."

"And no good ones either." Bac said.

"Wow you never see anything good do you?" Cipher said a little perturbed with his squad brother's pessimism.

"I just don't like what I don't understand." Bac admitted in a whisper that was only heard across the com frequency he and Cipher were sharing.

Cipher nodded, he could understand that he guessed. The clone clicked his teeth twice to change the view in his helmet to night vision as the last rays of sunlight disappeared and true darkness set in. Cipher let out a long sigh; he could tell it was going to be another long night.


	9. Just React

**AN: Well sorry for the delay in posting this chapter, RL has been a bit hectic lately. As always enjoy, please review so I can improve my writing and I sadly don't own star wars.**

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The darkness of night could be a frightening thing. It could easily hide whatever danger was out there waiting to attack. As these thoughts ran through his head, Admiral Yelih realized one very important fact. The concept of day and night didn't exist onboard battle cruisers.

"Why is it so dark?" Yelih muttered as he tried to stand.

"Sir lay still…you are injured."

Yelih started to argue with the clone trooper, but suddenly the world around him began to spin and he had to fight to stay conscious. He drew in a deep breath. He was injured but he wasn't going to be useless.

"What's the damage trooper?"

"It looks like a concussion and at least three broken ribs sir….we are just waiting for some debris to be cleared so we can move you to the medical ward."

"Not me….the ship." The Admiral said in a pained groan.

The clone trooper was especially glad that his helmet hid the grimace on his face. They were damaged in a bad way and it was only by some miracle that the life support systems were still functioning.

"The barrage took out a lot of the forward decks. The bridge was hit hard, but the hull stayed in tack. We have several decks that breached and had to be sealed."

Admiral Yelih let out a sigh. Breached hulls and sealed decks meant a lot of troopers had died. He nodded for the clone to continue.

"We are dead in space sir. Repairs are being made but there is talk of abandoning ship. As for the separatist, the best we can tell is that they aren't around…either destroyed or fled. Our communications are out so we haven't been able to communicate with the 'Defending Hope.' We only know that it is still here by visual confirmation."

"Trooper…help me up, I'm no good to us lying on my back."

The clone medic cringed, but an order was an order. He helped the Admiral up who let out a gasp at the pain. Then ever so gingerly they made their way through the debris towards the center of the ship to find the medical ward and try and establish some sort of order again.

Arima jerked awake as she felt a prescience looking at her. She looked up and her muscles relaxed as she recognized the clone's signature in the force.

"What's wrong Cry?"

For a moment Cry stood there and then his balance began to waver. "I…wake….I'm shot." The clone managed before he tumbled forward.

"CRY!" Arima screamed as she caught the trooper with the force and rolled him over onto his back. The jedi tore off the clone's helmet to find CT-2237's face locked in pain. She quickly began to place her hands over the black hole in the clone's abdomen. She summoned the force to heal the wound caused by the enemy sniper, but the blood kept coming out.

Arima screamed for a medic as a barrage of laser fire poured into the meager republic base. A clone rushed to her side and began working on Cry. Suddenly a rough pair of hands grabbed the jedi's shoulders and hauled her to her feet dragging her away from the wounded soldier.

"With all due respect general….we need you to fight, not cry over a fallen trooper."

Arima whirled around to find that it was Bac who had hauled her up. Anger rose inside her, but she knew that the trooper was right. She ignited her lightsaber and the red glow of the blade mixed with Cry's blood made for a horrifying scene. Bac merely smiled.

"That's more like it."

Arima ran to the perimeter and found herself blocking lasers with Cipher and Bac on either side of her. Through the darkness she could sense a large force of enemy droids making their way towards them.

Another laser blast came from way off to the left and struck a clone in the helmet killing him before he hit the ground.

"One of you do something about that sniper!" Arima ordered the clones around her.

"Just keep those lasers off me general." Scav said suddenly appearing behind the three, sniper rifle in hand. Arima nodded and placed her self in front of the clone as he began to look for the enemy. She deflected a few lasers away, each second seeming like an eternity.

After several seconds a high energy laser bolt shot out of the gun and sparks flew in the distance as a sniper droid exploded.

Devan had awoken at the same time that Arima had. He found Sarge crouched next to him tapping him on the shoulder.

"General we have an enemy sniper on one of the adjacent hills."

Devan nodded, and was about to ask how he had found out when he heard Arima's cry for a medic. Suddenly lasers poured into the small makeshift base and clones and jedi alike were diving for cover.

While Arima was on one side, Devan found himself completely on the opposite end of the battle. Fortunately for the clones this matched the two fronted attack leaving a jedi on each front to fight the battle.

"Sarge…as many explosives as we have towards the enemy on my command…then you and only you fire."

"But…sir…."

"Just do it!" Devan snapped back knowing there was no time to argue. Sarge quickly spread the orders and the confused clones readied their thermal detonators.

"Do it!" Devan yelled and leapt out from behind the rock he had been using as shelter. Twenty small explosives detonated in the middle of the approaching droids shattering a large amount of the attack force.

Devan ignited his lightsaber and took off into the darkness.

"Ah son of a *#%^" Sarge yelled as he began shooting trying the best he could to direct his fire around his general.

Devan quickly engaged the troops and cut through the remaining droids in spectacular fashion. His previously injured leg barely slowed him down and Sarge's fire managed to pick off the few that the jedi had missed. The quick thinking strategy worked and the droids quickly fell victim to the bold attack. The laser fire suddenly stopped and all that remained was the eerie glow of the green lightsaber.

"Sarge send most of the troopers to the other front."

The Sergeant had to strain to hear the order but he quickly relayed it keeping only a few of his men to await Devan's return.

The droids and clones were evenly matched on Arima's end. A few of the droids had made it close enough that Arima had been able to cut them down herself, but the majority suddenly stopped and laid down fire from a distance.

Several troopers were hit and collapsed to the ground; their cries of pain somehow piercing through the roar of the battle.

"General what are your orders?" Commander Thod shouted as he heaved an explosive and began to open fire again.

"Yeah we're getting murdered here." Bac added.

"Umm….keep returning fire….and…." Arima said hesitating. She couldn't think of what to do. She was a fighter, not a strategist like Devan, she just reacted, never planned.

Suddenly a new wave of clone troopers joined the battle and the combined fire of the troopers and the reinforcements was enough to push the droids back. After several more minutes of intense skirmishing the battle suddenly ended.

Arima breathed a sigh of relief, but she could feel some resentment coming off of the clones around her. She turned to walk away and check on Cry. Bac and Thod exchanged glances. Though their helmets hid their eyes it was apparent that both clones were not happy with how the battle had ended. They had been lucky that the other side of the base had taken care of their problem quickly enough to lend a hand.

"See I told you that Jedi were worthless." Bac muttered to Cipher as he pulled off his helmet. Though it was intended as a whisper, Arima still overheard the comment. Her spirits crushed she walked away before she could hear Cipher's response.

Out of the darkness a green glow came towards her and it wasn't until Devan was a few feet away that Arima even registered her friend. Feeling the waves of guilt and anger coming off of her, Devan rushed to Arima's side.

"Hey…what's wrong?" He said placing a hand on her shoulder.

"I'm useless." Arima muttered angrily as she roughly brushed away his hand. Devan didn't ask what happened he just waited. He knew Arima would tell him, she just needed a moment.

"They…the clones asked for orders and I didn't know what to do. All I could think of was to tell them to keep returning fire. I'm terrible when it comes to quick thinking….I…I"

Devan turned off his lightsaber plunging the two into complete darkness. For a moment it felt like no one could see them and that was exactly what Arima needed.

"_Don't say that….you're one of the quickest thinkers I know."_

Arima sat down shaking her head at the force message Devan had sent her.

"_Yeah, but only for me….I just react I don't plan it out….I can't just tell the clones to do whatever they want….they are asking for orders that I can't give cause I don't know what to say….whenever we trained I….I just reacted I never planned it out."_

"Then leave the strategizing to me….you just react." Devan said out loud. He turned his head as footsteps approached. He ignited his lightsaber so the clone trooper could see them more easily.

"Umm….Ma'am….Sir." The trooper said snapping a quick salute.

"What is it trooper?" Arima said trying to put some power behind her words but only managing to sound exhausted.

"The medic that you called over at the beginning of the battle is looking for you….he wants to tell you about trooper 2237……in person."

Arima slowly got to her feet a large knot forming in her stomach. She feared the worst, but a second fear scared her even more. If Cry was alive and had heard of her failure would he still show her the same respect or feel betrayed for telling her his name. Emotions in disarray she slowly walked through the darkness to find the medic.

**Hopefully I'll have the next chapter up sometime after the weekend…please review.**


	10. Orders

**AN: So I'm very sorry for the delay. I wrote a lot of this chapter and then had a writer's block along with some real life distractions. Here is chapter 10 and hopefully I can get the next one up much sooner this time. Enjoy!**

"Shut up Bac!" Cipher yelled as he shoved his clone brother forcing him to take a couple of steps back. Bac threw his gun to the ground and motioned for Cipher to come at him. Cipher happily obliged determined to defend Arima by knocking some sense into the pessimistic member of their group.

"Commander on deck!" Scav yelled out in an attempt to stop his brothers from pummeling each other. Both men stopped their attacks short and came to attention.

Commander Thod looked up from where he was sitting and let out a small laugh. "Very well done Scav…though I'm not sure this pile of rocks counts much for a deck and technically I've been here the whole time."

Scav gave his commander a nod, "Just working with what I got sir." Thod let out a chuckle again and walked over to Cipher and Bac. Both men had relaxed their upright posture and glared at Scav for stopping their fight. Thod placed a hand on a shoulder of each man and led them a little bit away from where Scav was happily cleaning his sniper rifle.

"Listen, both of you, we have enough fighting to do so no fighting each other. Now this ends here."

"But sir the jedi was useless. I didn't mean it to get under Cipher's skin, but it's the truth sir."

Cipher started to protest but Thod held up a hand to silence his trooper. He started to lead both men back.

"She is inexperienced, but she protected Scav while he took out the sniper droid, she did lead the clones that saved our sorry butts, and last of all……she is still a general and outranks you. You will give her the respect that her rank deserves."

Bac nodded grumpily and this brought a victorious smile from Cipher. The smile soon vanished as Thod turned on him.

"And you…though she outranks you and has strange powers, she is inexperienced. Don't follow her blindly because you know she's a jedi. She is human too, she will and does make mistakes and they will get you killed if you aren't careful."

As they arrived back at where Scav was, Commander Thod ordered Cipher and Bac to go and find out what the jedi had planned. As they left Thod shook his head with a sigh.

"Eh…kids what are you going to do with them." Scav said. Thod gave him a weird look.

"Scav, they were pulled out of their cloning vats only a few hours after us."

"Like I said…..kids." Scav said with a little smirk.

The medic clone looked up as Arima and her escort approached. The medic removed his helmet so he could look at the general face to face. He saluted and then stepped aside so the jedi could see Cry lying on the ground.

"Ma'am…I did all I could, but I'm afraid it's only a matter of time before he dies." Their was a pause and the medic continued. "Unless you can heal him anymore I don't think he will make it."

Arima covered her mouth in shock. The ground was covered in blood and a lot of Cry's white armor was a reddish brown. She had already seen troopers die….she hadn't expected any of their deaths would hit her hard. She stared at the medic for a moment as if unsure he was really there. Finally she managed to speak up. "Is there no way to get him up to the bacta tanks on the 'Guardian of Justice'?"

"Ma'am we have been trying to communicate with both ships for quite sometime. It appears that their communications were knocked out in the ensuing space battle soon after we began our rescue mission."

Arima nodded, "Keep trying, hopefully some reinforcements will come soon." The young girl stepped around the medic and knelt down beside the still form of the wounded clone. She closed her eyes and let the force tell her the extent of the wound. She soon realized that there were too many vital organs damaged for her to use the force to heal him. The only thing she could have done was stop the bleeding and the medic had already managed to do that.

"Gen…..general?"

Arima quickly grabbed Cry's hand. "Yeah it's me Cry….just try to rest…we'll get you out of here." Arima used her other hand to swipe at the tears flowing down her face.

"So….sorry….not…much help….righ…..now." Cry managed with a weak smile that soon disappeared as he coughed and some blood slowly oozed out of his wound.

"Don't worry about it….you'll have plenty of time later to help us out." She said knowing it was a lie.

"Yeah…..some…..keep you….out….trouble." Cry managed with another smile.

Arima gently touched his cheek with her hand and told him to rest. She stood up and wiped away the remaining tears. She placed a hand on the medic's shoulder. "Make him as comfortable as possible….and maybe a miracle will happen, but there's nothing I can do."

With that Arima left to find Devan and see what he had planned for their next move.

"Sir Commander Thod wanted us to find out what your orders for us are?" Bac said saluting.

"At ease….both of you.." The jedi said nodding to the two clones to take a seat on the rocks next to him. Both men took a seat a little uneasy at idea of sitting down for a chat with a jedi general.

"I still haven't gotten a full report on our current status….do we have enough men to launch an attack?"

"Attack sir?" Cipher blurted out surprised at the jedi's boldness.

"Yes an attack…if we can mount one…even a small one, it will keep the droids off balance and they will have to dedicate some of their forces to defense instead of an all out attack."

Bac nodded seeing the wisdom in the idea. For a moment he was even willing to concede that this jedi might not be as dumb as he thought. "We definitely have enough men for a quick hit and run….it won't do much, but it would disrupt the clankers if they are staging for another attack."

Cipher nodded, "A quick attack, maybe blow up an ammo stockpile or something just as vital if we are lucky."

Devan nodded, he started to speak but paused as he felt Arima's troubled presence through the force. He sent a message through the force to come and talk with him. The young female jedi suddenly froze at seeing the two clones sitting next to Devan.

"Did you need something?" She asked quickly.

Devan gave her a reassuring smile and nodded for her to take a seat. Arima sighed and sat down, but kept glancing over at the clones as if she expected at least one of them to lash out at her.

"We are going to stage an attack on the droids and I figured it would be best if us jedi were involved in the operation."

Arima nodded, not really in the mood for anything. _"Maybe it will get my mind focused again." _She thought to herself. Her thoughts were interrupted as Bac spoke up.

"Excuse me sir….is it wise to risk both generals on the same mission. Maybe one of you should stay behind and help with the defense of our base."

Arima and Cipher both shot a glare at the clone knowing full well who he wanted to stay behind. Arima's glare soon softened as she decided she really couldn't blame him after her performance. Cipher continued to stare at his brother, until Devan spoke up bringing his attention back to the conversation.

"You are absolutely right." Devan said with a smile, and Arima's heart sank a little as she began to think that even Devan doubted her. She started to stand but Devan placed a hand on her back.

"I'm still a little injured from when we fought our way to rescue you guys….Arima here will be the best choice to aid you on this mission."

The two clones and jedi all looked a little shocked at the proclamation. "Now go plan your attack and carry it out after the general there approves it."

Bac and Cipher climbed to their feet, donned their helmets and saluted. Arima also rose to her feet, but managed to stop herself before she saluted as well. She leaned in close to her dear friend.

"I hope you know what you're doing….hold down the fort while we're gone and try to re-establish communications with our ships….we won't last long without resupply."

Devan nodded and Arima left with a sigh, following the two clones all the way back to where Commander Thod and Scav sat patiently waiting for orders.


	11. Planning

**AN: Well the next chapter is up and much sooner then I have been updating lately. I hope you enjoy it and thanks to all of you who are patiently waiting for me to update.**

Admiral Yelih tried to stand up straighter as they approached the medical bay. There had been more debris then had been expected and the trip that usually took minutes had taken half an hour.

"Someone report."

The medical bay was jammed pack full of clones, both injured and healthy. For a moment they all stared at their Admiral who looked on the verge of collapsing.

"Dammit one of you sorry good for nothing troopers report!"

Yelih ignored the pain, letting his anger block it out. He fully straightened up and the fire behind his eyes lit one underneath the clones.

"Sir, we have no communications….scouting parties are continuously recommending we try and abandon ship."

Admiral Yelih nodded to the clone that finally spoke up. As the Admiral was about to issue an order, a clone pilot appeared out of the lingering smoke, coming at them on a full sprint.

"Sir….we…we are acting as your communications now."

"Explain yourself trooper." The Admiral said confused on how any repairs could have been made with the ship on the verge of collapse.

"Sir….the gunships that were sent down to the planet…we've returned. Two came here and our other went over to the 'Defending Hope.' It's crude but we're using the gunships to communicate between the battle cruisers."

Admiral Yelih nodded. "What's their status?"

The trooper put a hand to his helmet as he apparently listened to someone else on the other end of his com link. Suddenly his head straightened back up.

"They say that they have taken some damage and their communications were taken out. It appears that the 'Guardian of Justice' took the brunt of the attack. They report full life-support and predict shields to be back up within the hour.

"Very well….as of now, I'm ordering all crew to abandon ship….lock any functioning systems down, we'll try and fix this ship later….for now we need to be where we can make defend ourselves and possibly get help to those on the ground."

With the order given, the clones began the long task of transporting everyone to what remained of the hangar deck. Slowly the remaining gunships from both battle cruisers began to ferry all personnel to the 'Defending Hope.'

* * *

Commander Thod and Scav wanted to burst out laughing as they saw Cipher and Bac approaching with the jedi general in tow. It was apparent that none of the three approaching them were happy with the situation.

"Orders General?" Thod asked as the three came to a stop before him.

Arima returned the salute that Thod offered her and let out a frustrated sigh. "Ok…we are supposed to launch an attack…..just the five of us…that's all we can spare from defense. You four have been down here the longest and know the area better then anyone. For that reason, I….I think you should plan the mission."

Thod nodded and looked at Scav and then Cipher and Bac in turn. Soon the four were drawing up a plan in the dirt. Arima tried to lean in, but gave up a few minutes later not really sure what they were saying. She hung back from them as the planned their mission, not even sure if she could be of much help. After several more minutes of planning, Cipher broke off from the group and approached Arima.

"Um…Ma'am?"

"Yes….Ci….trooper." Arima said still feeling that she didn't have the right to use the clone's names any longer. If Cipher caught her deliberate avoidance of his name he didn't show any reaction to it.

"We need to know a little bit about you to finish our plan."

Arima looked at the clone confused but followed him the few feet back to the others. She looked at Thod questioningly.

"General…we have come up with a plan on how we would do this if it were just us clones….but we need to know….well how good you are at sensing danger."

Arima thought it over for a moment and then smiled. If all she had to do was use the force to sense threats she would be ok. That was just a part of her. She would literally be just reacting to her environment.

"I'm pretty good. I can usually sense threats or traps up to 50 yards in any direction….but I won't be of much use against snipers. I won't be able to sense them if they are far out."

Thod nodded, "Ok then you are point….you'll lead us in and get us back out. Just leave the rest to us."

The next several minutes were spent explaining the plan a second time and then a third before the clones were sure that Arima knew exactly what was going to happen. Bac seemed to be the most frustrated with the general, but the other three troopers were willing to repeat themselves to ensure the success of the mission.

Finally they gathered their gear and prepared to head out. Arima double checked that her light saber was clipped to her belt and then took in a deep breath. She opened herself up to the force and started to walk towards the base's perimeter. Suddenly she stopped as she sensed something being thrown at her. She whirled around and stuck out her hand. She was surprised to find a blaster carbine hanging in the air in front of her.

"Don't use your saber unless you have to…it will light up the area like a beacon and draw a lot of fire….can't have the general killed on her first mission." Bac said with a little bit of distaste.

Arima used the force to pull the blaster to her hands. "You're wrong trooper." Bac tensed up and she could feel the clone's resentment as he assumed she was going to argue against his reasoning.

"You should have said we can't have the general getting killed on her second mission…the first one was rescuing you four."

Scav and Cipher let out a few muffled chuckles and Bac even seemed to relax a little.

"My mistake then general….let's just try to ensure we all have a third mission." Bac said a surprised smirk hidden behind his helmet.

"Agreed." Arima said and with another deep breath she strode out past the security of the clone sentries and into the unknown in search of the enemy base.

* * *

"Sir where is General Bedears?"

Devan looked up to see a clone medic standing at attention.

"She's helping with a mission….what's wrong?"

"Sir…CT-2237 is going into shock….I don't know if he will last much longer….if she wants to be here when he….well…she needs to come quickly."

Devan took in a deep breath. "She can't come trooper….I'll go in her place."

The medic nodded and Devan quickly followed him through the darkness to a small knot of troopers who were kneeling down around a wounded trooper. The circle of troopers opened up to allow the medic and jedi general to enter and then closed up around them.

"I…I…..where…..gen……general?" The wounded trooper coughed.

Devan reached out and grabbed Cry's hand. He took in a long breath and looked at the medic. He pleaded with his eyes for the medic to do something, but the medic merely shook his head. Devan turned his gaze back to the trooper before him.

"Trooper…General Bedears is on a mission….just hold on a little bit, she'll be back soon."

"I….te…tell her to….rem…remember….my….name." Cry choked out.

This drew a low murmur from some of the clones that had gathered. The clone troopers had been taught to expect death. What no one had trained them for was how to fight off the fear of not being remembered. Cry's simple request echoed in each of their hearts. Every clone yearned to be remembered as an individual instead of just another number; another dead trooper to be carried off the battlefield and forgotten.

"I…I promise you she won't forget you." Devan said grabbing the troopers hand tightly.

"Giv….give…her…..these." Cry said and forced his dog tags into the jedi's hand. "You….kn…know….ju….just in……case." Cry said with a weak smile.

Devan nodded, a few tears streaming down his face. He gripped the clone's hand tightly and then let go.

"I'll make sure she gets them."

Cry smiled up at him and then his face began to grow extremely pale. Devan stood up and stepped away. He exited the circle and allowed the troopers to close in where he had been. He saw the medic reach down and grip Cry's hand. He shook his head and the clones that still had them on removed their helmets.

Devan watched as the troopers paid their respects to their fallen comrade. He watched as each one knelt there completely still as if tasked with guarding Cry's body.

"A clone never dies alone." Devan muttered to himself as he turned to walk away. "I know she will remember you." Devan disappeared to check on other parts of the base allowing the troopers to tend to their fallen on their own terms.


	12. Contact

**AN: Well here is the next chapter….some action in this chapter so if you've been wondering when it would appear again, the wait is over.**

It didn't take long for the small attack force to run into droids. A mere two hundred yards outside of their base's perimeter Arima suddenly froze and dropped into a crouch. Commander Thod crept up beside her to see what was wrong. He was surprised to find that the jedi general had her eyes closed.

Sensing living things through the force had become second nature for Arima. Droids had always proved more difficult. Not being actually alive, their presence was more of an absence in the force. In other words she had to notice a lack of the force to truly see where the droids were.

Arima held up two fingers and pointed to an outcropping of rocks ten meters away. Thod made a barely visible motion with his hand and Scav and Bac disappeared into the dark. Arima raised the blaster carbine up and peered into the dark trying to spot the droids with her eyes. She could feel the two clones getting closer to their targets.

"Easy." Thod whispered as he put a hand on Arima's blaster forcing her to lower it slowly. There was a muffled mechanical whine and then a small trickle of satisfaction flowed through the force. Arima smiled, the two clones had destroyed the droid sentries without making too much noise.

Scav and Bac soon joined back up with the group and Arima once again resumed her position at point.

"Sir…I'm getting a faint amount of chatter on our coms."

Devan looked over at the clone who had been patiently trying to contact the battle cruisers for the last twelve hours.

"Can you get a message out to them?"

The clone fiddled with buttons on the small collapsible relay dish they had. He let out a frustrated sigh.

"I'm sorry general, the signal isn't strong enough I'm only able to pick up a few words here and there, but it does appear that at least one of our ships is still in orbit."

"Well that's good news….get some rest and let someone else try for a while."

The clone nodded and gave a crisp salute. Another clone identical in every way to the last took his spot and continued working on the signal. If it wasn't for the force, Devan would not have been able to tell that the first clone had truly left.

"Let me know if anything improves." Devan said and headed off to ensure the base's perimeter was still secure.

After another hour of creeping through the dark, Arima and the squad of clones she was leading spotted their first glimpse of the separatist base. Arima sensed a high level of excitement flowing off of the clones and this did a lot to squelch the nervousness that had begun to build inside her. Suddenly a light tap on her shoulder made her jump and she saw Scav staring at her through the black visor on his helmet. He motioned for her to follow.

The plan was fairly simple. Commander Thod, Bac and Cipher were to sneak in and lay some charges on whatever looked important. Meanwhile, Scav was going to position himself up in the rocks and provide cover with his sniper rifle. Arima's main task was to protect Scav. She knew it was mainly to keep her out of the way, but she found some small pride in having led the group in safely.

She sat down and watched as the three clones worked their way towards the base. Her heart stopped as a droid patrol passed a mere 2 meters from the clones. She finally let out a breath she hadn't realized she had been holding. To her right she heard Scav stifle a small laugh. Arima looked over at him, but the clone was very still watching through the scope of his rifle. Arima could barely see the clones as dots moving among the different portions of the droid base. They continued on for several minutes and Arima finally looked away and rubbed her eyes.

"Shit."

Arima looked over at Scav, but before she could ask what was wrong she saw the dark base light up with laser fire. The clones had been spotted. Arima reached down and felt the lightsaber at her side.

"Scav?" She asked knowing the plan had said she was supposed to guard him.

"Go….I'll cover you." The sniper said, his voice filled with tension. He fired a laser bolt and then moved a few rocks over to conceal his position again. Arima sprinted towards the base doing her best to avoid the fire that was directed back at where Scav had been just seconds before.

Everything had been going perfectly until a cleaning droid had bumped into Cipher's foot. The small box like droid had let out a surprised squeal and then all hell had broken loose. The three clones were on their way out of the base when the battle droids opened fire. They managed to find cover behind several crates. A few of which had their explosives attached to the side.

"Sorry boss." Cipher muttered as he unloaded a burst into a super battle droid. The large battle droid groaned and fell over, but several more appeared and began the steady approach towards the clones.

"Don't worry about it…it could've been any of us" Commander Thod said as he fired over the top of the crate.

Bac nodded in agreement and pulled out a thermal detonator and prepared to toss it over the top. Thod grabbed it out of his hands and disarmed it quickly.

"We just planted all sorts of explosives this will set them all off….we'd be cooked."

Bac muttered something about taking droids with him and put the explosive back in his pack.

The droids drew closer and their combined fire began to tear away at the crates. The clones needed to move, but without any cover they would be cut down for sure.

Suddenly a laser bolt from up on a hill smashed through the head of a super battle droid as Scav took down another target. As some of the droids turned to return fire there was a hissing sound like something catching on fire.

For a few seconds, all trapped clones heard was a steady humming sound combined with the dying mechanical groans of several droids. As the enemy fire slackened they peeked their heads up to see Arima standing on the other side of the crates surrounded by broken droids. She was blocking laser fire as quickly as she could.

"Go…get out of here!" She yelled, her voice strained from the effort of trying to block so many bolts at once.

The three clones didn't waste any time and sprinted into the darkness. They found cover and started to return fire as more and more droids poured into the fight. Arima began to slowly walk backwards as she deflected more and more bolts. She could feel her strength beginning to fade. She walked a few more meters and a bolt clipped the edge of her jedi robe. She wasn't going to be able to keep this up for long.

"BLOW IT!"

Cipher and Commander Thod looked at each other trying to confirm if they had heard that right. Their general was still in danger from the blast, but an order was an order. Seeing the two hesitate, Bac grabbed the detonator and pressed the button that set off the explosives. The entire area suddenly was engulfed in flame. Arima and all of the droids disappeared behind a wall of fire. The explosion soon sucked back in revealing the droid outpost to be nothing more than charred debris.

Cipher jumped up and sprinted towards the rubble. "General Bedears!"

Commander Thod peered into the rubble and then he spotted what Cipher had seen. He and Bac jumped up and ran towards what looked like a person. The three clones slid to a stop next the shaking form of their jedi general.

"Um….Ma'am?" Commander Thod asked unable to believe that the kneeling form was truly Arima.

Arima slowly looked up her body still shaking.. "It….it…it worked." Arima said letting out a small laugh in disbelief.

"What did Ma'am?" Bac asked suddenly intrigued on how this jedi had managed to survive such a blast.

Arima looked up and blinked a few times as she struggled to form meaning from Bac's words. Finally her mind caught up to what was going on and she answered.

"I….I had heard that…that it was possible to absorb large amounts of energy and….and expel it through the force."

"That's amazing!" Cipher said almost bouncing from foot to foot in excitement.

"Well….it only….sort of worked." Arima said staring at her hands. The clones looked closer and realized that both of her hands were severely burned. A few sparks of electricity jumped from Arima's hands and singed the ground again. She let out a whimper of pain and her body began to shake. The energy dispelled; the true pain began to set in.

Commander Thod realized that the trembling was as much from shock as from fatigue and that their general needed a medic. He took out some emergency bandages and quickly wrapped up Arima's hands. The smell of burnt flesh was overwhelming. Cipher helped Arima to her feet and they began to head back up the hill. Scav came down and stared at Arima as if she was a ghost.

"Are….are we done?" Arima asked not wanting them to abandon the mission over her injuries.

"Yes….Ma'am." Bac nodded. "We are heading back."

"Good…I could use a nice sleep." Arima said with a smile. Her eyes closed and she slumped forward.

Bac managed to catch her before she fell face first in the dirt. He let out a groan as he lifted Arima onto his shoulders. The four clones hurried back to base as fast as they could Bac muttering about the stamina of jedi the whole way back.

Suddenly the whole area lit up as a large explosion in the distance cast light across the entire area. Devan smiled and a few of the clones let out a cheer as Arima and her clone troopers blew up something big.

"Sir! I have something!" The clone at the relay dish yelled.

Devan headed over to listen to the message from the battle cruisers.

"Advise…we are heavily damaged…..several hours….get you supplies…..scans show that the base…..was only forward base…….larger base….East….appear….staging for attack…..good luck."

The message began to repeat and Devan sighed. "No chance of getting out a reply is there?"

"I'm working on it sir, but it seems they have their hands full at the moment…no one is responding."

"Indeed, if you get through let them know we are holding on, but we will need resupply as soon as they can, we won't last forever down here."

The clone nodded and went back to his work.


	13. Jedi Tears

**AN: Well sorry for the long delay, job hunting has stolen most of my time, but thankfully I now have one. Whether this will give me more or less time to write….who knows. Well enough about me and my ordeals, on to the clones and jedi. Enjoy!**

Admiral Yelih stepped off of the gunship and looked around the busy hangar. Clones were moving every which way unloading supplies and personnel as fast as they could and then sending the ships back to the 'Guardian of Justice' for more.

"Sir! There seems to be a transmission coming from our troops on the ground."

The Admiral turned to the clone that stood there saluting. He returned the salute in a casual manner. "What are they saying?"

"They are mainly requesting supplies and reinforcements as soon as we can get them to them."

The Admiral thought it over for a moment, and let out a heavy sigh. The crippled battleship he had just come from could break apart at any moment and there were still hundreds of troopers on board. He needed all the ships available to try and get them to safety.

"Send a message back saying that help will come, but it may be several hours or even a day before we can direct resources their way."

The clone nodded and the Admiral let out a sigh as he imagined the reaction of the ground force to his delaying of supplies they no doubtedly needed. Admiral Yelih straightened his uniform and then headed off in search of the 'Defending Hope's' Captain with the hopes of forming some sort of strategy to win this planet for the republic.

Arima slowly opened her eyes and then immediately clinched them shut in a failed attempt to block out the bright morning light. She brought her hand up to shield her eyes and then let out a small whimper as her injured hand brushed against her forehead.

"Well you somehow managed to get all of the clones talking about you."

Arima blinked and sat up to find Devan holding a canteen of water. She started to reach for it and then remembered the pain in her hands and pulled them back. Devan gently lifted the canteen to Arima's lips and let her take several long drinks.

"How…how are the others?" Arima managed to say as she fought the urge to use her injured hands to rub the sleep from her eyes.

"Look for yourself….you took them in and got them all out safely…everyone is quite impressed that you survived the explosion."

Arima looked around. She spotted Commander Thod and Scav sleeping in the shade of a large boulder. Bac was busy cleaning his blaster carbine and Cipher was relaxing with his eyes closed, but his occasional glances to check on her made it obvious that he wasn't sleeping.

"What…what about Cry….he's probably wondering why I haven't come to check on him yet." Arima said suddenly trying to stand up.

Devan placed a hand on her shoulder and forced her back into her sitting position. The female jedi could feel her companion's mood grow very somber and she tried to hold back the tears that were fighting to break free.

"Where's….where's Cry?" Arima asked hesitantly; scared she knew the answer.

Devan took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. He looked at his friend and stopped just short of grabbing her injured hand and instead put his hand on her arm.

"He…he died while you were on your mission….he asked me to give you these." Devan pulled out the dog tags and gently placed them around Arima's neck. "He said he didn't want you to forget him."

Arima felt the cold metal tags settle across her chest and all of her sorrow burst to the surface. The tears flowed freely and the jedi general that was supposed to be invincible and all powerful sobbed like a child. Devan sat down beside his friend and gently cradled her next to him letting her bury her head into his shoulder.

A few feet away Cipher looked up and saw Arima sobbing uncontrollably. The noise began to draw some of the nearby clones in.

"Is she crying?" One curious trooper asked.

"Sure looks like it." Another stated.

Cipher suddenly found himself needing to defend Arima. He stepped in front of the handful of clones that were gathering.

"How about you give her some space." Cipher said his voice very serious.

"Is the general alright?" The first clone asked and more troopers began come over.

"The general is fine now get back to your post." Bac said in his usual low growl.

A few of the clones turned away but many of them ignored Bac since he didn't outrank them. The concept of a general crying intrigued them. Arima was too wrapped up in her sorrow to even realize the crowd was forming.

Cipher and Bac tried to get their clone brothers to leave but had no luck.

"ATTENTION!" Every clone trooper snapped to attention at Commander Thod's order. He walked over to the small gathering of troopers with Devan's ever helpful Sarge at his side.

For a moment, the two leaders stared at their men as if deciding what sort of punishment to deal out. Then Commander Thod broke the silence.

"At ease men." All of the troopers relaxed their rigid pose. "These men have requested you to give the general some space…I am ordering you to. Is that understood?"

The clones nodded that they did and some began to leave when Sarge called them to attention again.

"The general is mourning our fallen….how fortunate are we to fight for a leader who cares that much about whether we live or die?"

There was silence from the troopers as the gravity of what was going on sank in. Their general wasn't giving up; she wasn't submitting to fatigue, she was crying over the death of a clone. It was something unheard of.

"I ASKED YOU A QUESTION!" Sarge bellowed out at his men snapping them out of their thinking.

"Very fortunate sir!" The men shouted in unison and this brought a smile from both of the clone leaders. "Dismissed." With that most of the men returned to get some sleep or relieve those guarding the perimeter.

Bac and Cipher let out breaths they hadn't realized they'd been holding and smiled sheepishly at the two officers. Commander Thod nodded towards the perimeter and both clones donned their helmets and went to keep a look out for enemy patrols.

The two clones walked over to the two jedi and sat down. Arima looked up and Devan carefully wiped the tears from her eyes before she tried to use her hand to do so.

"I…I didn't mean to cause such a commotion." The female jedi said apologizing to the two clones having realized towards the end that a small crowd had gathered.

"No apology needed Ma'am." Thod said. "We do have something for you though."

Devan and Arima both looked at the clones questioningly. Sarge smiled and yelled for Scav to bring something over. The jedi were surprised to see the always relaxed sniper carrying a pair of the armored gloves that were part of every clone trooper's armor. These were identical to all the rest except that a strong smelling liquid was dripping out of them.

"For your hands." Scav said simply, setting the soaking armored gauntlets down next to Arima.

"I…I don't understand." Arima said her mind not yet fully transitioned out of her grieving.

"They are soaked on the inside with bacta….enough to help your hands heal. It's not the usual healing tanks that are on the battle cruisers, but it's the best we can offer while down here." Sarge said.

"The armor will protect your hands enough that you can fight without ruining the healing process." Thod added with a smile.

Devan picked up one of the gloves and Arima lifted up her right hand. She let out a small whimper as the glove slid over the raw flesh. The burning sensation quickly died off as the cooling bacta began to take effect. The other armored gauntlet was quickly slid on and Arima flexed her fingers and then curled them into fists.

"Thanks." She said and both troopers stood to leave.

"General we have a message!"

Everyone turned to see the clone who had been working on the communications equipment running their way. "They say that we will be resupplied in a day or two, but until then we need to hold out and try to take as much ground as possible."

Devan let out a small laugh. "We'll start with surviving and then go from there." Arima began to get up, but Commander Thod placed a hand on her shoulder.

"You should rest general….we will need you fighting beside us soon enough."

Arima nodded and closed her eyes. Though still saddened by Cry's death, she found peace in the fact that she had finally earned the respect of many of the troopers. She was soon asleep, no longer worried about death and attacking droids. She would leave the planning to Devan; all she had to do was fight.


End file.
